White Lies
by Lojuba
Summary: Harry tells a little white lie at the start of his first year at Hogwarts and it changes everything. It's basically one book per chapter. It's tagged as an AU and it really is. Minor changes make big differences. Maybe give it a try?
1. Sharing is Caring

**DISCLAIMER: **

I'm not going to retell any of the parts I don't plan on changing because that would absolutely kill my enthusiasm.

**Chapter 1: Sharing is Caring**

Harry didn't know how to broach the subject. He wasn't exactly used to having friends, much less used to openly talking about his dislike of their behavior. So, this entire situation was new and troubling for him.

What he knew was that he honestly hated bullies. He had done so, ever since he understood that Dudley was one, and yet the looming confrontation with Ron felt much more difficult than it should.

He understood Ron when it came to Malfoy. The git insulted his friends' family, after all, and he knew that if he had a family he liked, he wouldn't have tolerated that either.

But Hermione wasn't that bad. Sure, she was a huge know-it-all, but she was also new to the Wizarding World and Harry understood why she was trying so hard. She didn't take magic for granted and it annoyed her that people who had grown up around it, did.

Even though he understood that, he also got the other kids. _She was annoying._

But that didn't warrant Ron's scorn, much less his constant mocking. Harry had watched the other boy make an ass of himself throughout their first few weeks. The other kids found him hilarious, Hermione looked irritated most of the time, but still managed to ignore the whole thing, but Harry felt like she was hiding how much it bothered her, and knowing Ron he'd be overstepping soon.

Harry watched Ron with a grim expression. He needed to talk to his friend about it. There was no other way. He hated bullies. But he liked Ron, so, he thought of ways he could discourage him, without hurting his pride. That last part was especially important.

After two weeks of deep contemplation he finally pulled Ron back, when they were about to enter the Charms classroom.

'Listen mate, can you please lay off of her?' Harry asked.

'Why? She's behaving like a swot and it's not like I'm the only one that thinks that.'

He breathed in deeply and tried to calm his nerves, before he said, 'because I like her.'

Harry tried to look sheepish. He had no idea how that translated on his face but lying about liking Hermione seemed like the best way to get Ron off her case, without making a big deal out of it. Besides, it was only a white lie. No big deal.

Ron's eyebrows disappeared into his hairline as he took in Harry's weird expression. 'Did admitting that, hurt?'

'A little bit,' Harry mumbled, and the other boy snorted.

'Her?' Ron asked again, in disbelief.

Harry frowned. If he had really liked her, that would have been a bit rude, but it wasn't like he didn't get where Ron was coming from.

'Yes. She's always been kind to me. Even repaired my glasses, before she really knew me. What about it?'

Ron looked a bit guilty, before he nodded. 'Alright. I'll stop. Should have said something sooner,' he grumbled, as they finally went into the charm's classroom.

The only available seats were next to Dean and Hermione, so Ron pushed him very unsubtly towards Hermione. Harry wasn't sure if he should curse him for it or be grateful, that his friend was trying to help him. He ended up feeling a bit of both, when he sat down next to her.

They were learning the Levitation charm and the young witch succeeded immediately. Harry had to admit that that was impressive. There were a lot of purebloods in their class and none of them had gotten it right on their first try.

Not that he made that distinction. The thought just came up, because the Slytherins wouldn't shut up about it.

'You're saying it wrong.' Hermione disrupted his efforts. 'It's Levi-**o**-sa, not Levio-**sar**,' she explained, and Harry repeated after her, trying to imitate the wand movement and bloody hell, it worked.

Professor Flitwick smiled encouragingly. 'Excellent job, you two. Very well done. Take 5 points for Gryffindor, each of you.'

Harry felt himself blush. He hadn't been praised by a teacher since second grade, and that had been followed up by an especially unjust punishment, because he'd done better than Dudley. After that, he stopped trying. He wouldn't now. Hogwarts was his magical education, his ticket out of Little Whining.

'It's weird isn't it?' Hermione asked, as she watched Dean blow up his feather.

'What?' Harry asked.

'The people who try the least are the ones that lived their whole life with magic. I don't get that.' Hermione shrugged and Harry looked towards Ron before he answered.

'I think they only treat this like a chore, because they know of a lot more interesting stuff. It's not always going to be this way.' Hermione looked at him in surprise.

'So, they are bored?'

'Basically. Ron has five older brothers and the ones that are already working are a Dragon Tamer and a Curse Breaker. Compared to what they are experiencing and telling him about this must be uninteresting.'

Hermione needed a moment to process all of that. 'I get that.' Brushing some invisible dust away from her robes, she continued, without meeting his eyes. 'I feel a bit stupid now, for thinking they aren't appreciating it.' She blushed fiercely while staring at the immobile feather on her desk.

'You couldn't have known without talking to the others.' Harry shrugged and Hermione groaned, before turning to him, all flushed and embarrassed.

'I know, I already said I feel stupid. Alright?'

Harry snorted. 'You're really bad at this aren't you?' He asked and she blushed even more.

'I'll be your friend,' Harry said, before he could stop to think about it. Talking to her was easy.

'Why?' Hermione suddenly looked suspicious.

'I don't know. You're kind of rude, but I don't mind that. I like that you say what you think.'

Aunt Petunia always talked a lot, but he didn't think that she actually shared a lot of what she truly thought. Not that her thoughts were anything to hold your breath over.

Hermione gaped at him. 'I'm not rude.'

Harry rolled his eyes. 'You were judging a lot of people without trying to get to know them on a pretty baseless assumption,' he reiterated, and she looked guiltily at her feather again.

'I really did, didn't I?'

Harry snorted and she punched him in the shoulder, lightly.

'I'll apologize.'

'What?' Harry asked, confused.

'I'll start with your friend.' Hermione nodded determinedly and that was all they could say, before the bell rang, and they had to leave.

Ron was surprisingly cool, when Harry and Hermione walked towards him after class.

However, he looked a bit as if the world was about to end, when Hermione apologized for being rude to him.

'I—; It's alright. I'm sorry about calling you a swot, too.'

Hermione pulled an eyebrow up.

'You called me a swot?' She asked, and Harry helpfully supplied, 'Behind your back.' Which earned him a glare from Ron, who then stared at the laughing Hermione in surprise.

'I mean you're not wrong,' is what she finally got out between giggles and Ron smiled.

It felt like a good beginning.

Well, except, that Ron thought Harry liked Hermione and did everything he could, to help, which meant a lot of alone time for Hermione and Harry, but they didn't mind. In fact, they got along great.

X

One day, she came at him with a book on hair charms. 'Harry! I found something that's worth more than gold.' Her eyes were twinkling in delight, Harry swallowed.

'What?' He asked, as he tried to think of his next chess move, while being taunted by his own tower. The tower was right though, Ron would win anyway. Every single one of his figures knew that, pointing it out didn't help.

'A book on taming untamable hair,' she said, sounding almost reverent.

'Where did you get it?' Ron asked, curiously.

'Lavender Brown gave it to me. She's a bit of a girly girl, but after I got to know her, I learned that she knows a whole arsenal of charms and hexes that are supposed to help with all kinds of issues, even medical ones, and they are really complicated, too. She even went and fixed my teeth!' Hermione smiled brightly at them and sure enough her front teeth looked perfectly normal. 'Listen, this could be great for us!'

'For us?' Harry asked, trying to ignore the feeling of dread that was invoked every time anyone brought up his hair.

The last time Petunia had tried he'd ended up with _**that **_haircut. Hermione stared pointedly at his hair and Harry groaned.

'My hair doesn't work like that,' he hurried to say, with the memory fresh on his mind.

'We'll see,' Hermione said, before smiling dangerously. 'I like a good challenge.'

Ron who had sat silently next to Harry was now openly laughing at them.

'Alright you try them on me, and I will try them on you.' Hermione decided after looking through the book.

'Doesn't Lavender—'

'Nope, we're on our own,' Hermione disrupted determinedly, with a dangerous glint in her eyes.

Harry sighed. 'Alright, then.'

They sat in the common room, the book sprawled out between them and looked through the charms.

'Bloody hell,' Hermione whispered.

'What?' Harry asked, more surprised about the fact that she actually cursed than anything else.

'There's a Potter charm.'

'No way. Where?'

'It's right here, a charm to make your hair look fashionably windswept, by James Potter.'

Hermione read the last part aloud and nodded. 'Want to try it?' She asked, while Harry was still staring at the book.

'This has got to be the weirdest way to connect to my dad, ever.'

They ended up trying a lot of the charms, but besides the Potter charm, no one worked on Harry.

Hermione was another story, by the time they were done with her, her curls were defined and looked glossy, rather than frizzy. Harry stared at them both in the mirror for a moment.

'Magic is weird," he said almost reverently, and Hermione laughed and agreed.

X

Ron had decided that Harry and Hermione were perfect for each other after Hermione set Snape on fire.

He told him all about it, when they sat on his bed, curtains drawn, privacy spells in place and chocolate frogs distributed between the two of them.

'She set a professor on fire for you,' Ron whispered, almost awed.

And Harry felt himself blush. 'That is a pretty big deal, isn't it?'

'Hell yeah, it is.' Ron said. 'I mean she wouldn't even let us bad mouth him, before. Even though he was such a prat to her in class.'

'I know.' Harry said, still feeling slightly annoyed about that.

'And she looks nice, too. Now that her hair isn't so frizzy anymore.' Ron murmured.

Harry nodded. It was true.

'She even told me that Lavender told Romilda, that she liked me. I thought that was against girl code or something.' He paused for a moment, before turning the chocolate frog around in his hands thoughtfully. 'I'm really glad we're friends, now.' He finally admitted.

Harry laughed, that was something he could easily agree with. 'Me too.'

X

Just before the Christmas holidays started, Hermione pulled Harry aside. 'Do you need help with charming presents?'

'No?' Harry asked, suddenly unsure. Who had he forgotten? He bought something for Ron, Hermione and Neville, but that was it.

'For your family.' Hermione explained.

Harry furrowed his brows. 'They are treating me horribly.'

Hermione stared at him for a moment. 'Dumbledore said, you had to go back to them, right?'

'Yes,' Harry admitted begrudgingly. He didn't want to tell her about it in the first place, but she had asked him about his clothes and drew her own conclusions.

'So, try to get them something they'll like. Maybe they will treat you better?'

'I doubt it,' Harry said. Knowing them, they would throw out anything magical, immediately.

'It's the thought that counts.' Hermione insisted. 'Besides, I already wrote to my parents and they told me I could invite you over for our three-week vacation in France. It's all at the end of summer, so we'll go back to Hogwarts together.'

Harry stared at her for a moment. 'Seriously?'

Hermione nodded.

'They're taking me with them on vacation?' Harry tried not to let his disbelief bleed into the question.

'It's already booked. We always drive down to France and stay in a bungalow by the beach, one more person won't make a difference. I may have lied a bit and told them we were sure that your guardians would agree to it.' Hermione blushed again and Harry pulled her into a hug.

'You're the best,' he said smiling, and she hugged him back.

'Okay. What sort of present would your family tolerate?'

'Just very normal things, I guess. They love Dudley.'

'How about simple bracelets, charmed to let the other wearers know, that every wearer is alright.'

'That would be nice, for another family,' Harry said begrudgingly.

'It's not hard to do and we can transfigure everything we need. It's basically free. It will only take an afternoon.'

Harry groaned. 'Alright.'

They spent the rest of the day transfiguring three very simple silver bracelets out of Neville's half destroyed silver cauldron and charmed them to be slightly warmed as long as everyone who is wearing one of them is in good health, feeling well. If someone was in danger, they would cool down noticeably. It was simple enough, the bracelets looked perfectly boring, but not cheap.

Hermione had insisted on the present being slightly magical to get them used to the idea that magic could also be used for something good, too.

Harry took the three bracelets up to his room and wrote a careful note that explained their use and that he made them himself. He thought that they might like it, because Dudley was so far away. He also wrote that he didn't make one for himself and hadn't included himself into the charm.

He finished with the words,

_I sincerely hope you like them, if you don't want them please throw them away. You will get in trouble if you try to sell them, because they are charmed._

_Merry Christmas. Harry._

Harry put them in a package with an uneasy feeling. This had to be delivered as normal as possible, so he put the required post stamps on it and let Hedwig drop it off with the Royal Mail.

X

Christmas day was full of surprises. He had Christmas gifts. The invisibility cloak was amazing, and so were the gifts from Mrs. Weasley and Hermione, but Harry couldn't get over the new pair of shoes and jeans and the simple baseball shirts he had gotten from the Dursleys.

They were fitted and they looked good. Not incredibly cheap or second hand. Just good.

There were three notes, too.

_Dudley liked your present a lot. Merry Christmas.  
-Petunia._

_We tested them and Petunia said they were harmless, but if any funny business happens, you'll regret it. Merry Christmas.  
-Vernon._

_It's cool that you made them for us. Merry Christmas.  
-Dudley_

_P.s.: Perkins really wanted these shoes, so I thought it would be fun if they were sold by the time he showed up with his Christmas money._

Harry stared at the cards in wonder and went to put on his clothes. They fit nicely. He wasted no time pulling his Weasley sweatshirt over his head.

Christmas was amazing.

X

When they figured out that it was Nicholas Flamel, they had different worries. But Hermione had smiled knowingly at him, when she'd seen his new clothes.

X

He sent the Dursleys a treacle tart over Easter.

_It's my favorite. There's a stasis charm on it. That means it won't start going bad, until you open the box and is still safe to eat, when it reaches you. I hope you like it. Happy Easter.  
\- Harry_

He got a new shirt and new pairs of socks and boxers in return, with a card from Petunia.

_We liked the treacle tart a lot. Can you get the recipe? Happy Easter.  
-Petunia._

Harry stared at the note and the clothes for a while, before he tried to get into the kitchens. The house elves were very helpful, and Harry was able to send his aunt the recipe in no time at all.

He got another pair of jeans in return. That was a little weird. But it was true that he appreciated clothing items that actually fit him over toys or anything else.

Ron, Hermione and him, had grown even closer after their Dragon adventure. So, they did something stupid.

They followed their hunch and got through the protections.

X

When he woke up in the hospital wing, he woke up to angry voices and an enraged Madam Pomfrey.

'You can't do this in here," Someone said, and then Harry heard Aunt Petunia?

'What?' He whispered and blinked his eyes open.

Dumbledore stood at the foot of his bed and in front of him stood Aunt Petunia with Vernon Dursley.

_**What.**_

'What's going on?' He asked, shocked.

Vernon looked at him in his hospital bed and finally said. 'No one contacted us, when you were attacked. We heard from your friend's parents about it. That is no way to run a school. If this had happened at Smeltings Academy, they would be buried under lawsuits,' he finished and actually looked threateningly at Dumbledore.

'We knew this was dangerous.' Petunia finished in her most biting tone. 'You said there was nothing to be afraid of. This does not look like nothing.'

He was a bit relieved. They sounded angry, not worried. The world still made sense.

Next to him, sat Hermione staring wide eyed at the exchange.

'Hermione?' He asked, because he didn't have a filter anymore.

'Your uncle just insulted Dumbledore in a very impressive manner,' she finally whispered to him, while the adults continued their talk.

'That's not unusual.' Harry nodded and actually had to stop himself from snorting derisively. At least they were doing it to defend him or something?

A few months ago, he would have bet anything he had that they'd have send Quirrel a card for trying to kill him. Of course, that one would have been filled with insults too. For failure to complete what he set out to do.

He muffled his snort, as best he could.

'I'm sorry. My parents contacted them without my knowledge,' she whispered again.

'It's okay,' Harry said. 'I just hope they won't take me out of Hogwarts.'

'They can't. Dumbledore said so. It's in your parents' will.'

'That's messed up,' Harry mumbled, feeling drowsy again.

'I asked them about France.'

'Were they angry?'

'No. You can go. Your aunt was very nice to me about it.' He heard Hermione say, before he drifted off again, this time with a smile on his lips.

X

When he woke up the next time, he was looked over by Madam Pomfrey, quickly given his clothes and ushered to the fireplace to floo home. Before he knew what was going on, he landed in the Dursley's living room, sprawled out on the floor.

'Oh shit,' Dudley said. 'What happened to you?' And Harry looked up and saw the Dursleys looking expectantly at him.

'I hate wizard ways of transportation,' he said and Vernon nodded. Hating something from the magical world was obviously acceptable and would garner him approval.

After a few short moments, where he wasn't sure if they wanted him to talk about it or not, he started telling them about his latest adventure.

Vernon stared at him for a few moments. 'So, you're telling me your headmaster had a very dangerous artefact hidden in the school and employed a teacher, who wanted to kill you.'

Harry nodded. 'I don't know what happened there. Him not being aware of all of this looks really bad. Him being aware looks even worse.' He finally said, leaning against the couch. Petunia and Vernon went to the kitchen and to talk. Apparently, discussing the issue further if the curses were anything to go by.

'It looks like a test of courage,' Dudley whispered and Harry looked surprised at him. 'I made Pierce eat a snail, once, just to see if he would actually do it. If he had the guts,' he explained.

Harry stared at him. He did not want to think of his headmaster as Dudley. Merlin's saggy balls, that was the last comparison he would have drawn.

He thought for a moment how he could direct the conversation away from that thought. Far, far away from it.

'There's a hex that makes you barf snails. Ron told me about it. He even ended up using it on someone who kept telling us that people who didn't have magic were not as good as people who did.'

'Did it work?' Dudley asked, eyes gleaming.

'Yeah it was super disgusting,' Harry nodded, grimacing at the image of Malfoy barfing out live snails.

'Wicked.'

'Kid was really posh, too.'

Dudley laughed meanly and Harry wasn't sure what was going on with his life anymore.


	2. Of Self Expression

**Of Self Expression**

**Trigger Warning:**

I'm briefly touching on binge eating in the first part of the story, if this upsets you, please skip the first paragraph.

Heads up for the upcoming chapters: I will always concentrate a bit on Harry's home life and interactions with his family as well as the Grangers, because that's what changes a lot and I feel like that part of the story might be interesting to explore, as well.

**Also, finally: This chapter has very little to do with canon. You'll understand what I mean by that, by the end, where I'll explain why I did that.**

**X**

Harry had the summer of his life.

Even if Vernon talked to him about Dumbledore, at length. He mostly asked him not to trust the old man too much, because of his suspicious behavior.

Petunia still gave him chores, but they were very moderate. Just small things around the house and mostly every other day.

He also didn't get punished anymore, either, which meant he could relax his eating habits a bit.

When he was younger, he used to overeat whenever he got the chance and that usually lead to him throwing everything back up, later. But because of that aunt Petunia tried to reign him in by giving him smaller meals, more often. For example, before and after an exhausting chore.

Nothing had really helped, because it wasn't about feeling full and satisfied for him.

No, he used to do it, because he didn't know when he would make something weird happen again, which he knew he'd be punished and most likely send to bed hungry, for.

Yeah, he wasn't going to unpack that whole clusterfuck. Point was his eating habits normalized and aunt Petunia looked increasingly guilty around him, when they ate together.

She'd definitely realized what the problem had been.

He had his own bedroom and was overall treated with human decency and since he was less stressed, his accidental magic was practically non-existent. He felt better all around.

Dudley didn't even pick on him, anymore. In fact, they mostly ignored each other. Aside from the few times, Dudley asked him to play with him on his new entertainment system, because Perkins was sick and he was bored of playing in the single player mode, they barely even ran into each other.

But when they played together, they had fun, which seemed to surprise Harry as much as it did Dudley.

Although, his home life had improved vastly Harry spent most of his summer, reading his schoolbooks and doing his homework in a park, nearby. He wanted to be done with it, before Hermione's parents came to pick him up. He also wasn't sure if he could trust the changes, the Dursley's had implemented, to stay, and consciously made an effort to use his newfound freedom to be around less.

**X**

Contrary to what Hermione had told him, the Dursley's had been a bit reluctant about him vacationing with the Grangers, in the beginning. But by the time the Grangers were a week away from picking him up, Vernon was more than happy to send him along.

Especially since he had an important business dinner with one of his employers later that week and their lies about Harry were so unfortunate, that it would make them look bad by association, if he was around and they spoke about his supposed schooling.

Hiding him away during the visit, wasn't an option either, because Petunia had gotten attached.

'He's different. My sister— She always used to brag about it. But he is humble, and he shares, and he thinks about us and what we might like. I love the bracelets. I liked the tarte. What we've been doing to him is not right, Vernon. Punishing him for magic, didn't work and just hating him for it, won't help either. He is what he is.' She finally said.

Vernon stared at her for a few moments before he shook his head. 'Alright. Better he trusts us, then that Dumbledore. I don't like him. He's using the boy.'

Petunia nodded. 'We'll keep an eye out for that. But Harry really is talented. My sister wasn't this good in first year.' She shook her arm and the bracelet glimmered.

'He's going on vacation with that girl in a few days. Maybe we can ask her parents how they keep in touch. They won't have owls around their house all the time, either.' Vernon nodded to himself. That was a sound idea.

'She was very polite.' Petunia remembered. 'Her parents seem like a good lot, too. Dentists.'

Vernon nodded.

'We need to get him a few more pieces of clothing, for the vacation. Maybe a haircut, too? Can't have him look bad around them.' He added, and Petunia smiled.

**X**

Dudley stared at the little piece of paper in front of him. It was his birthday and Harry had actually gotten him something. Something weird, but it was still something.

'What does it do?'

'It's charmed so no one will notice it. You can write key notes on it, and you know, cheat off of it in a test.' Harry explained; a bit red when he saw Petunia pull up an eyebrow at him.

'Smeltings encourages cheating.' Vernon said smiling encouragingly at his son. 'It's just important that you won't get caught, now where is this paper you're talking about?'

Dudley stared at him. 'I'm holding it in my hand right now.' He said disbelieving.

'Seriously?' Vernon asked.

Harry nodded. 'It's a simple notice-me-not charm. I made it so that Dudley and I are the only ones who can see it.'

'That's practical.' Dudley said, grinning.

Harry nodded. 'I'm glad you like it.'

**X**

The shopping trip with aunt Petunia went surprisingly well.

He got a lot of new clothes, both for the upcoming year and his vacation.

Dudley got new clothes, too.

Harry wasn't picky and definitely not interested in branded clothing. He thought the ripped black jeans looked cool and preferred the simple baseball shirts and hoodies with them.

Dudley wasn't so modest. He ended up decked out in brand names, but they were both happy. So, who cared?

The haircut was decent, too. Short, on the sides and slightly longer up top. It made the chaotic hair look a bit more controlled, and Hairy could still tousle it in the front to hide his scar, if he needed to. It suited him surprisingly well. He really hoped his hair would stay that way.

He wasn't used to liking the way he was dressed or the way he looked.

It felt good.

**X**

The day the Grangers came, Petunia and Vernon actually tried to make a good impression.

The Grangers were somehow exactly how Harry thought they would be. They introduced themselves to Harry as Jean and Bill Granger and were smiling warmly at him before following his aunt and uncle into the living room.

Jean was all freckles and wild locks and bright smiles and Bill had a kind face, wore big glasses and gesticulated wildly. They were both so painfully Hermione, that he smiled at them, too, before he could even think about it, bright and earnest.

The adults had tea and talked about the vacation. Aunt Petunia had told him already that she'd just wanted to get to know them a bit, so Hermione and he had a few moments to themselves.

Dudley was out with Pierce, probably daring him to eat an earthworm or something, so he didn't have to introduce him to Hermione, who seemed very out of place here.

But Harry had to admit that Hermione looked very nice. She was wearing a simple summer dress and had her hair up in a ponytail. When she first saw him, she had smiled brightly and hugged him for a moment.

'So, are you all packed?' She asked, looking over his trunk and backpack.

'Yeah. I got everything for the year and a few things for our holiday, too.' He smiled. 'How about you?'

'Oh, I'm not done, yet. We're just here to pick you up, we're driving down the day after tomorrow. I'm really excited that this actually worked out. I mean, I never thought they'd agree that easily.' She explained.

Harry nodded. 'Yeah, I know that the Dursleys probably won't say anything about money, but I can pay your parents back, when the school year starts.'

Hermione shook her head. 'My parents want to get to know you.' She blushed. 'I've told them a lot about you. You're my first friend.' She explained and Harry snorted, thinking back to their first real conversation.

'I know what you're thinking. Stop it!' She grumbled and made Harry laugh harder.

'So?' Bill asked, poking his head through, from the living room. 'You're all set here?'

'Yeah, I'm ready to go.' Harry agreed, before he nodded at his aunt and uncle smiling.

'Have a nice summer Harry!' Petunia said, before squeezing his shoulder, somewhat awkwardly and helplessly, while Vernon nodded. 'Don't get into any trouble!'

Harry looked at them for one final time, nodded in understanding and then the moment was over.

Bill took his trunk and Jean threw an arm over his shoulder as they walked away to put everything in the car.

**X**

The Grangers lived in a beautiful, clean flat in London. It was moderately big and had a nice terrace. But since they didn't have a guest room Harry was sleeping on a blow-up mattress in Hermione's room.

'I hope you don't mind?' Hermione asked and Harry snorted. 'Of course, I don't mind. But Merlin, how many books do you have?'

The room was completely decked out with books. There was even a ladder installed on the bookshelf. The books were stacked all around her bed and she even used book stacks as small stands for plants.

'I don't know. I've never counted them.' She shrugged.

Harry nodded. 'It's not all for school is it?'

Hermione laughed. 'Merlin, no. It's everything. I love reading. There's adventure and mystery novels, too. Magic and Muggle literature. Okay, so this whole section' She pointed at one of the bigger stacks, 'is magical history, but that's just because I can't concentrate on Binns.'

Harry smiled. He liked the room, even though it was filled to the brim with books, it had also a very warm feel to it. Probably because Hermione had put fairy lights all over. It was really girly in a subtle way.

'Your parents are awesome.' Harry added and Hermione smiled.

'Thank you.' She said. 'The Dursleys seemed alright?' She asked tensely.

'They were decent to me. At least this summer.' He added, feeling not quite ready to just gloss over years of neglect.

She nodded.

They talked about France for the rest of the night. Well, she talked about it and explained how much she loved it and Harry felt himself brimming with anticipation when he woke up the next day.

**X**

What followed were the best three weeks of his young life and he's been to magic school.

The rest of his summer smelled like sweet flowers, sunscreen lotion, foreign spices and the ocean.

The Grangers had rented a bungalow by the beach and they spent every morning having breakfast on the terrace overlooking the dunes and the ocean.

Not an hour later Harry and Hermione threw themselves into the waves and played until Jean called them back to eat.

The Grangers liked to explore the old cities and the markets along the coast. Sometimes Harry and Hermione tagged along and other times they were allowed to stay behind.

Harry spent much of his time sleeping in the shade, while Hermione read next to him. Sometimes she'd even read out loud, when she found a passage especially funny or interesting and wanted to share it with him.

He loved the three weeks they spent together like that. Exploring and relaxing with Hermione were his new favorite activities. Especially because she always knew something about something.

Her stories and tales carried him through the last weeks of summer.

The little bungalow in the dunes felt like a safe haven.

When the time came to drive back, they were all sun tanned and just overall relaxed. This was what summer vacation could feel like, Harry realized.

It wasn't a given that summer meant you'd be bored out of your mind for two months. It didn't have to be like that. If you're really lucky it could be this feeling of levity.

The new year at Hogwarts could come. Harry felt more than ready to tackle it head on.

**X**

Harry and Hermione got their books with everyone else, on the last day of summer. Incredibly short notice, for everyone's taste, but since Ron had been the only one, who couldn't meet his friends over summer, his family had complied.

Which was why they all went to get them together, the day after they came returned.

The streets were devoid of other students and Ron smiled and hugged them both when he saw them before he politely introduced himself to Hermione's parents.

The Weasleys were as warm and loud as Harry remembered them and he honestly loved them for it.

It was especially fun because they practically had Diagon Alley to themselves. Well, mostly. They also met Neville who had forgotten to purchase a new silver cauldron. His grandmother was tough as nails, but she warmed up enough to the lot of them that she smiled a little when they said their goodbyes.

Mrs. Weasley was saddened by the fact that they'd missed Gilderoy Lockhart's signing, as was Hermione, she hadn't known that there would be one and pouted, while Ron and Harry teased her mercilessly for it.

Later, on their way to a café Ron bumped his shoulder into Harry's. 'She has a crush on our new defense teacher, mate.'

Harry shrugged. 'I hardly think that's true. She's probably just impressed by his accomplishments, you know?'

Ron looked unsure about that and Harry actually felt a bit uncomfortable, when he thought about the possibility of Hermione having a crush on someone else.

And where had that thought come from?

Ron stared at Harry for a bit, before he pulled him close. 'Never mind. You're going to sweep her off her feet this year. Fred gave me 12 Safe-Fail ways to charm Witches. It's a book that dad gave to Charlie, who in turn gave it to Bill, who wanted to give it to Percy, but Percy declined, so he gifted it to the twins instead and now I have it. The book worked for everyone! Well except for Percy, but honestly, I think he had the right instinct in declining that one. Can you imagine him trying to flirt?' Ron snickered for a moment, before he lightly patted a traumatized Harry on the back.

'Anyway, she'll be head over heels for you by the end of the year.'

Harry laughed whole heartedly while he thought about it. 'As weird as it sounds, I honestly think she'll appreciate me trying to impress her by reading a book and following instructions.'

Ron snorted. 'Yeah, she's weird like that.'

Hermione's head snapped around to them. 'Who's weird like that?' She asked and Ron stared at her for a moment, before he confidently and way too loudly said, 'Ginny. She wouldn't shut up about Harry all summer.'

Ginny looked downright mortified and blushed before running to her mom.

Harry stared at the scene for a moment, before he whispered to Ron. 'Did you just throw your sister under the bus because you're afraid of Hermione? Because mate, she's honestly not that scary. I mean, what's the worst thing she could do? Lecture you?'

'I think it's the tone of voice.' Ron muttered turning pale. 'She reminded me of McGonagall for a second there.'

His mom turned to him and called. 'Ronald, come over here, for a second.'

'Shit. Ginny tattled.' Ron groaned.

Harry snorted and clapped his best friend on the back, before he turned to walk with the Grangers.

'So, did you have a good summer, Harry?' Bill asked when they walked back to the car.

Hermione had gone ahead with her mom and Harry took a moment to completely focus on the older man and said earnestly. 'This was the best summer of my life, sir.' Bill looked surprised for a moment, before he smiled and nodded.

The last night with the Grangers was spent with a sense of melancholy. The only thing that saved him from feeling truly sad, was the idea that he could recreate these memories with his own family one day. Probably. When Voldemort didn't kill him, and he wanted to have one at some point in his life or whatever.

He sighed.

'Harry?' Hermione asked, looking over the side of her bed.

'Hmm?' He answered.

'I'm really happy that you went on vacation with us.' She mumbled.

'Me too. Hermione your family is great.' Harry whispered and then after a short pause, he added shyly.

'You're great, too.' After a moment, he realized that that hadn't sounded as sincere as he'd hoped. More like an afterthought, that kind of pained him.

Hermione laughed quietly at his confession and he groaned.

'Shut up. This isn't funny.'

She laughed harder.

'It's a little funny.' She finally said and he snorted.

**X**

The next morning wasn't funny for anyone of them and they were all able to agree on that.

They woke up way too early, because they still needed to get somewhat ready, before they could drive down to Kings Cross.

Harry and Hermione hadn't been able to sleep half of the night because they were idiots that apparently started heated debates about Potion papers, the night before they got back to school.

They were woken up for the second time that morning, by the flash of a camera. Hermione had snoozed on Harry's shoulder and drooled all over it, while he had definitely had a strand of her hair in his mouth, that they both looked slightly disgusted at.

'That picture is bound to be horrible.' Harry said and Jean smiled. 'You looked adorable. I will treasure it and send copies to you.' She winked and Harry actually paled at that.

Having these kinds of pictures in a boy's dorm room was actually dangerous. They would probably multiplicate them and strew them across the school.

He pushed the feeling of horror down and watched Hermione wipe her slightly dampened hair strand on his baseball shirt and snorted. 'You drooled on my shirt, too, you know?'

She blushed and stared anywhere but at him, while Bill laughed.

After saying their goodbyes, the Grangers couldn't very well park in front of Kings Cross station and let's be honest finding a parking spot there was a nightmare, they each pulled their trunk towards the platform and reunited with their friends.

**X**

Second year would have been smooth sailing. If it wasn't for the single most incompetent Defense teacher, they ever had.

Well, to be fair as a second year Harry didn't have much to look back on, but he was at a point in his life where he declared, to anyone who would listen to him, that he would actually prefer Snape as a Defense teacher.

On one memorable occasion he was overheard by Snape, which actually ended up going surprisingly bad. He lost Gryffindor fifty points that day.

For _mocking _a professor.

Sad part was he had been deadly serious.

Whatever.

Hermione was quickly disillusioned and soon couldn't bear the thought of ever having admired Lockhart. Harry and Ron had quickly decided that it was too embarrassing to actually tease her about it.

They'd do it in a couple of years, when Hermione didn't look like she was going to violently throttle them for it.

'A Duel Club?' Hermione asked over her book at lunch.

'Yeah. It's a shared effort from Snape and Lockhart.' Ron explained. 'The twins saw the signs and told everyone about it at breakfast.' He added a bit peeved.

Probably because he'd been going on about it since then and Hermione had just inadvertently admitted to not having listened to him.

'I wouldn't go if I were you.' She said to Harry. Harry actually looked surprised, but before he could ask, Ron already butted in.

'Why not? He's the best in Defense.'

'With the way that horrid idiot has been acting we can be sure that Lockhart will pick Harry to demonstrate something.' She sneaked a bite of casserole between reading, explaining and shooting Lockhart an impressive glare.

'If you're unlucky enough, he'll try to duel you and if I were you, I wouldn't want to find myself at that man's mercy. Incompetence can be quite dangerous.'

Harry shrugged. 'I think everyone in our year is going. Besides it's not like I can't tell him no.'

Hermione snorted. 'There were at least four pictures in the daily prophet over the last month that tell a very clear story of how efficiently you can tell that man **no**.'

Ron the bloody traitor actually laughed at that. 'She has you there.'

He added. 'Not going seems like the best option for you. But, let's be real, you wouldn't want Malfoy to think you're too scared to do a simple demonstration, would you?'

Harry thought about that for a second. 'I honestly couldn't care less. If you two are going, I'm going, too. We're a package deal.'

Hermione blinked at him surprised but smiled prettily and Ron patted him on the back.

'I vote we stay as far away from that train wreck as possible. So, anyone else up for visiting Hagrid?' She asked and Ron groaned.

'Oh, alright. Fred and George will tell me everything anyway.'

Harry nodded. 'Probably for the best.'

Visiting Hagrid was fun, Harry cuddled up with Fang on the carpet in front of the fireplace while Hermione leaned in one of the big comfy armchairs and they both listened to Ron and Hagrid geek out about dragons.

Charlie had sent pictures of Norbert in Romania, which Hagrid had promptly put up, with Ron's help.

It was a slow afternoon, full of warmth, laughter and sweets that could take your teeth out, if you weren't careful.

It was exactly what the three of them had needed.

When they entered the great hall for dinner, Neville was already waiting for them. 'Where were you guys? I thought you'd be at the duel club?'

Harry shook his head. 'We went to visit Hagrid. It was a collective decision that time spent without seeing Lockhart, was time well spent.' He surmised.

Neville nodded. 'You can say that again! Didn't you hear about Justin?'

Hermione shook her head. 'Finch-Fletchley?' She asked, because of course she knew.

'Yeah him!' Neville nodded. 'He's in the hospital wing. Malfoy summoned a snake at the duel club, and it attacked Justin, while Lockhart stopped Snake from vanishing it. He insisted he could do it instead, but he ended up, making it angrier.'

Harry's eyes widened and Ron turned pale. 'Happened in the first five minutes, too.' Neville added.

'I'm sorry about Justin, but I could have really used the practice.' He said somewhat frustrated.

'We can practice in our dorm.' Harry said, belatedly. Not sure how to deal with the information.

Hermione looked like she felt guilty. Probably because she'd been feeling smug about being right to deter them from going, instead of being worried for Justin.

Harry snickered.

She stared at him for a moment, realized he knew, blushed and lightly boxed him in the shoulder.

'What just happened?' Ron asked, still pale, looking from one to the other.

'Harry's being a git.' Hermione explained, flushed.

'Guys, can we not?' Ron sounded seriously shocked. 'We are currently being taught by a defense teacher that can't even vanish a snake. This is serious.'

Harry nodded. 'Does anyone know how Justin is doing?' He asked the table at large.

'Not well, the snake was poisonous.' Dean answered through his full mouth.

'He'll live.' Seamus added. 'He's an arrogant prat, but he didn't deserve that. Even Malfoy felt bad about what happened.'

'Aren't they going to do something, now that a student has been hurt?' Hermione asked.

'They wouldn't have hired him in the first place if there'd been anyone else.' Katie answered, leaning over Harry. 'Quidditch practice is at seven. Don't be late.' She directed to Harry who nodded. He missed Quidditch. Granted it hadn't played much of a role in his life, yet, but it just felt ridiculously good to fly, and it was fun to be on a team with others.

**X**

A month into the new year Harry got his first letter from Petunia. Apparently, the Dursleys had received a few photographs of Harry and Hermione during their vacation from the Grangers and put them up in Harrys room.

She'd also talked a bit on the phone with Jean.

It was decided that Harry could vacation with them the next summer, too, if he wanted to, which he did.

He also learned that Dudley was doing well at school and managed to get some good grades, with the help of Harry's present.

Towards the end his aunt talked about how Vernon's dinner went very well.

It wasn't like this was interesting to him. But… _Ok. _

The day he became personally invested in how his uncle's endeavors to kiss up to his superiors went, he'd have to check himself into St. Mungo's.

There were also specific questions he had to answer, like how he was doing. If the people at Hogwarts had been treating him well and if anything, unusual had happened. Attached to the packet was a set of beanies, two scarves and a set of mittens for the colder months.

They were a belated birthday present.

It was a surprisingly nice gesture.

Harry sat down to answer as best as he could.

He ranted quite a bit about Lockhart and felt much better for it and added a few things about Hermione and Ron, when it felt appropriate. After he was done, he quickly went to the kitchens and asked the elves for some pumpkin pie, put that under a stasis charm and sent the whole package with the letter away with Hedwig.

These interactions confused him more often than not.

He didn't know how to deal with the attention very well.

Mostly, because he wasn't sure why it was suddenly offered.

He knew that there was no love lost between him and the Dursleys, but this felt like they were pretending to be something they never had been before, and they didn't even put the show on for someone else.

This wasn't something the neighbors would take interest in. They were pretending for their own sake.

'Fake it until you make it.' Hermione shrugged unhelpfully as she sat down on the blanket in the owlery and looked over Harry's latest potions essay.

'What does that even mean?' Harry asked, feeling a little annoyed with life and Hermione.

'It's a saying. If pretending you care about each other leads to you being treated better by them, you keep up the pretense until it feels organic. When you stop questioning why they do things for you or pretend to care, it worked. And at that point you both have been putting in a lot of work and effort into pretending to get along. Will it really still matter then?' She asked thoughtfully.

'No idea. It feels weird, now, though.' He muttered.

'I still think they are bad people. I dislike the way they do things and I think their priorities and motivations are all fucked.' He surmised his feelings of discontent.

He had always thought, that the Dursleys sucked as people. Not even specifically as the people that had mistreated and neglected him. Not that he actually thought he could try and leave that part out of his judgement.

Hermione watched him over her book, before she nodded. 'For now, I would just keep doing what you're already doing. Answer and ask a few polite questions like: How are you? How have things been? And if they mention anything specific in the letter, it's always good to show interest about that, too. Ask about everyone, tell an anecdote, slap your name on it and call it a day. It doesn't have to mean anything to you.'

Harry nodded. 'I know. It's just bothering me, to pretend. If it's just an exchange of goods it feels better. I get a shirt. They get a pie. But letters feel like a whole other level.'

'Okay.' Hermione nodded. Realizing that there was nothing more she could do, other than accept that her friend's relationship with his relatives was very messed up.

'By the way, my parents booked France last week. This summer we'll be gone for five weeks, so we'll pick you up, earlier.' She grinned and Harry couldn't help but smile, too.

'Thank you.' He finally said and Hermione just leaned against his shoulder, saying nothing in response.

Harry felt weirdly appreciative about that, too.

**X**

The biggest difference to the past year had been that Ginny hung out a lot with them, this year.

Not overly so.

There were still times, where they could ditch her by saying that they had to deal with second year stuff, but when they did that, they actually ended up doing second year stuff together.

That meant Ron was with them, too.

Harry guessed that the main reason for his fast diminishing alone time with Hermione was that Ginny wasn't actively trying to be his wingman.

She wouldn't leave with Ron to let Harry and Hermione be by themselves and much to their surprise, it bothered them both.

Harry hadn't realized that he had built a meaningful friendship with Hermione outside of what he had with Ron, but he knew now, that it was special in his own right.

For privacy, they always ended up meeting in the owlery, like now. Mostly when Harry answered a letter from the Dursleys or when Hermione wrote to her parents.

He was mainly bitching about having to write to them and Hermione was sometimes telling him stories about what she told her parents and what she felt they wouldn't understand about the magical world.

It wasn't a big deal.

Not really.

Just a little.

**X**

A few weeks before summer break, both Harry and Ron were sat on his bed again, curtains drawn, privacy spell in place, chocolate frogs shared between the two of them.

'Mate.' Ron said again, disbelieving.

Harry nodded. 'I know.'

'Mate.' Ron repeated.

Harry groaned.

'She stunned a professor for you.'

Harry shrugged helplessly. 'I mean he was about to cast a spell on me.'

Ron snorted. 'He wanted to heal your broken arm, not that I would have trusted him to do that, either, but still…'

Ron stared a little at his chocolate frog, before he added, with a smile. 'That was an epic catch by the way.'

'Thanks.' Harry snorted.

He knew the dive must have looked ridiculous and he really should have stopped after that asshat from the Slytherin team hit blocked him head on and broke his arm, but he just had been too close to victory to back down.

'She stunned a professor for you, and no one said anything. I didn't even see any of the teacher's check who the perpetrator was.'

'I mean Hermione was right, I really didn't want him to heal me and he would have done it anyway. Also, it's not like everyone else hasn't been itching to stun him, too.' Harry tried to defend her.

He really did.

'I know, but… mate!'

Harry nodded and bit into another chocolate frog, it was his third one by now.

'You guys were made for each other.' Ron nodded to himself. 'First year she set Snape on fire, second year she stuns Lockhart, what is she going to do next?'

Harry laughed. 'She's quite something. Isn't she?'

'She bloody well is.' Ron agreed. 'But I still like Lavender better.' He hurried to assure him.

Harry snorted and let himself fall back on his bed.

**X**

All in all, their second year of school went a lot better than their first year.

Even Malfoy wasn't as much of a dick as usual. He'd actually been a lot more bearable ever since he almost killed Justin.

Harry didn't think that that was the reason, though.

This year had just been draining on everyone. They had had a defense teacher that had to be stopped from demonstrating the simplest of spells. Every lesson with that man felt like an ordeal. It was exhausting to say the least.

So, the break from all the crazy was more or less appreciated.

Well, there was still crazy in his life. Just not in the form of a dark wizard posing as their defense teacher.

The Dursleys still wrote him regularly. At the beginning it had just been aunt Petunia but over the year, uncle Vernon would sign off on some seriously questionable advice.

Like, _If__ you don't want others to walk all over you, you have to go to the meanest bully in school and make him respect you._

Also, _It__ is never a bad idea to let people in positions of power know, that you are aware of your own rights._Which would never not be hilarious, to Harry. The advice was sound, but it was hard to ignore how the source of it had treated him.

Not to forget: _Never depend on anyone else for something important. Do it yourself._

Attached to these pure nuggets of wisdom, was always the catchphrase: **_Don't trust Dumbledore._** _Stay out of trouble._

He thought those were hilarious and felt eerily vindicated, when Ron and Hermione had laughed, too, when he showed them.

To make his summer more bearable he had also compiled a list of magical stuff he absolutely hated. The top of the list made Lockhart.

Alright, so it wasn't exactly long, but it would be enough to tide him over for the dinners he'd have with the Dursleys.

'Is it weird that I'm already excited for France?' Harry asked, as he sat down next to Hermione in the owlery.

'Honestly? I don't think so. I'm always excited to go. I think it's supposed to be like that.'

Harry smiled. 'It's probably just so weird, because I dreaded the summer with the Dursleys so much back in first year, that it droned everything else out.'

'This year will be different.' Hermione smiled and leaned against him. Her hair tickled his nose slightly and he tried to pat it down, but much like his own, there was no winning.

So, he resigned himself to his fate and leaned back against the wall of the owlery. 'So, what do you think you'll take next year? Divination or—'

'Oh, I'm taking Ancient runes, for sure.' She said. 'I heard Trelawny is a fraud. Amanda was crying all year about it in our dorm. She's in the year above ours and apparently Trelawny keeps predicting her death. It got so bad that the rest of the class got commendations when they predicted Amanda being in a dangerous situation. That doesn't sound very ethical to me.'

Harry pulled up both eyebrows. 'Ron said, it would be easy.'

Hermione nodded. 'It probably will.'

'What do ancient runes matter today?'

'They are really versatile. Originally, they were intended to be used like charms. Just in rune form. Then they used them on wands, to boost spells and make wands more accessible to beginners in magic. Over the course of time, they realized that they could use them in rituals, too. Which is what the trace is, by the way. There are also a lot of wizards and witches that get them tattooed. I didn't quite understand what that does exactly, but it looked like it was a constant deterrent, like a notice me not spell or even a small shield. It's complicated, though.' Hermione smiled happily, while Harry stared at the young witch before him.

'That sounds like it's worth the effort. I mean wow. Are wards done with runes as well?' He asked thinking back to Dumbledore's explanation of why he had to spend some time with the Dursleys, each summer.

'I don't know.' She said thoughtfully. 'Could be? I'll look it up in the library the next time I'm there.' She shrugged and Harry hugged her closer.

'I'll come with.'

Turns out a ward could be made of everything. A spell, blood magic, soul magic, a ritual, a rune or all of the above.

The more Harry and Hermione researched them, the more his conviction grew. 'I think I'll take ancient runes, too.'

'Great!' Hermione smiled.

They spent the rest of their evening sitting in the common room with Ron and trying to convince him to take ancient runes, too.

It was an uphill battle, but he came around in the end.

**X**

The weeks until summer break couldn't pass fast enough for Harry. He just about had enough of Lockhart and even found himself bonding with Malfoy during a detention with the horrid man.

That was when he realized how fucked up this year had been.

They both failed the professor's quiz on his personal life, with pride. However, the consequences made them regret that dearly.

They were sat at the same table helping Lockhart answering his fan mail. It was gruesome and horrid work.

Every time Lockhart turned his back on them, Harry thumped his head against their table in the hopes of forgetting the long winded sentence about some woman's deep desire to kiss Lockhart's manhood beneath the starry skies of Scotland, while Malfoy stared at Harry's letter in disgust and with more sympathy than Harry had ever seen on his face.

After about an hour of weeding through traumatizing letters, Malfoy started what could only be described as passive aggressive critiquing, which Harry found hilarious.

Harry's snickering pulled Malfoy out of his hatred fueled rant about the excessive use of the word 'emerald' and 'what the fuck had an orb to do with an eye?', when the other guy actually looked up and stared at him in disbelief.

'Potter, do you think this is funny?' He ground out.

'No, this is probably one of the worst experiences of my life and I've almost been killed by you-know-who, twice.' Harry corrected him. 'I enjoy your hatred fueled monologuing though.' He admitted.

Malfoy's eyebrows disappeared into his hairline. 'Twice?' He asked, actually surprised.

Harry mustered him for a moment. 'Yeah, the end of last year, wasn't exactly what I hoped it would be.'

Draco stared at him for a moment, before he whispered. 'Professor Quirrel?' and Harry nodded.

'He was still a better teacher than Lockhart, though.' Harry added, thoughtfully and that's when Malfoy lost it.

He actually cackled like a mad wizard.

No decorum whatsoever.

'My oh, my. You two have been here for almost three hours. You best be getting back to your rooms!'

Out of the classroom, Malfoy looked at him briefly and Harry smiled. 'Are you up for a truce?' He finally asked, because why the hell not? If he could make nice with the Dursleys, he could do it with almost anyone else, too.

Malfoy stared at Harry's hand. 'What's in it for me?' He asked.

'You might get an ally or a friend. Depending on how much of a git you are.' Harry answered, thoughtfully.

Malfoy nodded and shook his hand.

'But' Harry added, 'you have to lay off of Ron.'

'That depends entirely on his attitude towards me and my family.' Malfoy answered snootily and Harry groaned.

'I'll talk to him.'

'I also want in.' Malfoy added.

'In on what?' Harry asked confused.

'Your study group with Granger.'

Harry stared at him surprised. 'Will you be an ass about her being muggleborn?'

Malfoy stared at his shoes. 'I'll try not to be.'

'Alright, I'll talk to her.' Harry nodded. 'See you at breakfast!' He added as he walked back to the tower.

**X**

'You what?' Ron asked during breakfast.

'Malfoy and I have a truce now. We've both bonded over our mutual hatred for Lockhart. He won't be an ass to you, if you leave him alone. He'll also do his best to be civil to Hermione, whom he would like to study with, during our cramming sessions.'

Hermione looked conflicted. Harry understood. On one hand, Malfoy was the second-best student after her and he had different resources then they did, being a rich pureblood and all. On the other hand, he was still a bigoted git.

'We'll give it a try. See if it works out?' She finally asked.

Harry nodded.

Meeting up with Malfoy and his croni— friends, was challenging on all parts. Crabbe and Goyle were stiff as could be and didn't even try to hold a conversation. Malfoy was kind of sketchy around Ron, but actually managed to be neutral towards Hermione.

Malfoy and he had a few easy interactions, but other than that, he put all his focus on making the group work.

Their dynamic was bad, but that only made them more productive.

Malfoy and Hermione powered through the assignments and after some time Ron actually managed to hold a few conversations with Crabbe and Goyle. Mostly about Quidditch, but it was at least something.

Harry held the middle ground.

He wasn't as all around knowledgeable as Hermione and Draco, but he wasn't as behind as Crabbe and Goyle either. Maybe a bit less lazy than Ron, but certainly not more knowledgeable. All of that gave him the unique position to be able to talk and relate to everyone a bit.

They worked for three hours that first night and decided to meet up again a week from then.

It was a slow start, but still a start.

'Well, that was a horrifyingly good study session.' Hermione whispered, when they were all done.

Ron nodded. 'And we've got the work done for at least the next three days, which is amazing.'

Harry laughed. 'Let's me get more Quidditch practice done.' He nodded tiredly but happy.

**X**

By the time the year ended Lockhart had frustrated every teacher to such a degree, that it gave Dumbledore no other choice, but to let the incompetent man go.

Everyone liked that. There wasn't even one fangirl left in the whole school.

Harry smiled towards a beaming Hermione, once the news got out and she blinked back at him encouragingly. The Weasley's enthusiastic clapping spoke for itself, as did the tiny smirk on Malfoys face and the careful clapping, that was done under the table, by Crabbe and Goyle. They weren't as inconspicuous as they thought.

However, nothing could have drowned out everyone's shy enthusiasm more, than the absolute roaring of applause and the relieved calls that were coming from the Ravenclaw table. They had suffered by far the most under Lockhart's incessant spreading of misinformation. Loving knowledge didn't adequate to loving knowing what their insipid defense teacher's favorite color was.

Anyway, the year was over, and they'd come out of it with minimal damage, which was already more than they could have said about their last year.

The only thing that had suffered severely from the experience was their faith in adults and their defense grades. Well that last one had turned out to be less of a problem than one would have initially assumed. Their study group efforts had paid off that way.

They certainly hoped for a solid defense teacher, in the next year, though. Book work and theory only got you so far. That was one of the few things him and Malfoy could actually talk lengthily about and even agree on.

This year Harry would ride the train back for the first time, which was a whole experience in and of itself. The Granger's would drop him off back home, before they'd head to Hermione's grandmother's seventieth birthday in Guildford.

Harry wasn't sure he could ever repay them for sparing him the anxiety that was induced by simply trying to imagine his uncle picking him up. He'd probably be looking down on, and talking rudely about, all of his classmates' parents. That he was attempting to accept Harry, didn't mean he'd be ready to socialize in a place like the magic side of Kings cross, any time soon. He didn't think he'd ever be able to repay Hermione or her family for what they were doing for him. It didn't seem like they realized the magnitude of what it was that they were sparing him from.

He'd tried to explain it to Hermione once, who had just nodded and told him, that he really shouldn't be thinking in terms of 'owing' and 'doing for him'. Her parents liked him. He was her friend. That they'd take his needs and his situation into consideration, was a given and he shouldn't think too much about it.

The memory was still fresh on his mind.

_She'd shook her head and snorted, before hiding her smile behind a cup of pumpkin juice, as she'd finished with the words. 'The way you think about it, gives me second hand stress.'_

_Harry had been a bit stumped by her behavior, until Ron explained later, that owing someone something was a big deal in wizarding culture and that she'd been right to decline the debt._

_'You have to be real careful with the way you word things, sometimes.' Ron groaned. 'I once swore to Fred that I'd do anything for him, if he took the fall for me, because I painted over Ginny's poster of— not important— Anyway. He took the fall and I came out of the whole thing with a freaking life debt to Fred. He said it was a good lesson and that he'd forgive it when I turned seventeen.'_

Harry had been caught up in thoughts about their year together for the past hour, while he watched the landscape rush past.

Hermione snoozed next to him. He'd slowly gotten used to the ever-present sensation of some errant lock of hair tickling his face and the weight on his shoulder.

The drool he still tried to ignore. Somehow, the idea of her drool on him, didn't seem like such a big deal after all the shit they'd been through, this year.

Progress.

**AUTHORS NOTE (an explanation):**

I don't think Ginny getting the diary was a huge premeditated masterplan, which is what I'm working off of in this chapter.

If you didn't pick up on it: They all met up at a later date and thus missed the enraged Malfoy patriarch that had just learned that he couldn't get rid of his evil diary by selling it to the shiftiest place, he knows.

What happened to it, instead, will play a role later, so I don't want to give too much away now. The Basilisk will also appear in this story, just a bit further down the line.

I always thought that this book was particularly heavy. The emotional manipulation of an 11-year-old girl by a sixteen-year-old boy and Harry fighting of the Basilisk at age 12 with a sword, once again completely abandoned by the adults in his life, is just not what I want to write. I want everyone to have at least a bit of a childhood, before shit hits the fan and since this is my story, I get to be selfish about that.

I did quite a bit of foreshadowing in this chapter, I'm curious to see if anyone will pick up on it!

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Please Review! Knowing you took the time to tell me what you think about this, means a lot to me and is insanely motivating! :)


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